Meet the World’s Deadliest Lions (Reigned Over an Empire!)

Lions are very capable top predators and can hunt and kill most anything that lives within their range. They also have an interesting social structure, which facilitates infighting and pressure from outside territories. Sometimes, all this power, aggression, and social conflict can lead to lion stories being more interesting than TV shows. In one case, the world’s deadliest lion ruled over 250 square miles of South Africa’s Kruger National Park, killed as many as 100 other lions, and was one of the most brutal lions ever to live. Today, we take a look at the rise and fall of the Mapogo Lions League.

A Brief Overview of Lion Pride

Lions tend to live and hunt in a pride that includes a few males, up to a dozen females, and the cubs that the lions borne. These prides can be as small as three individuals or include as many as thirty lions. As the size of a pride increases, the territory claimed by those prides tends to increase.

Lion prides kick young males out at a relatively young age of two or three. This prevents cubs from displacing pride leaders. These cubs are very vulnerable as they lose the protection of the group.

The young male will then move on and find another pride, fighting a member to take its place in the group. Over time, young male lions can build up their pride.

Sometimes, an outcast cub simply won’t try to take over another pride. Instead, they form an alliance of male lions who are related to each other. These alliances will take territories from other prides to make their own. The Mapogo Alliance of Kruger National Park is one such group, but their story is even more unique.

The ominous start of the world’s deadliest lion

The Mapogo Lions League consists of six powerful adult male lions. Five of the men were related and of similar age, with one older and closely related to the others. Five related lions are descendants of another large pride known as the Alfield pride, also known as the Spartan pride.

Sons imitate their fathers as adults, but they are more successful. In 2006, the six males were kicked out of the pride like most young males. Instead of joining a new pride, the lions have come together for safety and food.

For the next few years, the Lions survived as a union. They will enter the territory of other lions, scare off the female after hunting, and then eat before fleeing the male who owns the territory. They also spend time honing their hunting skills and teamwork. Mapogo lions started making headlines in 2006 because they had grown into large, capable adult males.

Mapogo Lions: Meet the members of the alliance

What is unusual about this alliance of lions is that they form a troop of six males, and even more unusual that they are so large and successful. Let’s take a moment to meet these six incredible mammals.

Makhulu is the oldest member of the lions and an outsider to the original pride. He was a very large lion and one of the last surviving members. Most of the conflict within the group comes from Mr. T, a ferocious lion known for his distinctive mane. These lions represent the two dominant forces in the league.

Domination of the Mapogo Alliance

In 2006, the Mapogo Lions went into action. They have taken over part of the territory of the Sabi Sand Reserve, which is proudly ruled by Ottawa. The Ottawa pride includes four males, several females and many cubs.

They challenged and killed an experienced male lion, breaking up the pride. Next, they killed all the pups in the area, and Mr. T may have actually eaten several of them. By killing all the cubs of the Ottawa pride, the Mapogos can ensure that their offspring will be the only lions born in the area.

This was the beginning of the lion’s reign in the region. Over the next few years, lions will occupy 170,000 acres (265 square miles) of the park. They conquered territory previously ruled by the other eight prides, and they didn’t ask those other prides to go away.

What makes the Mapogo League the deadliest lions in the world?

In addition to occupying vast territories, Mapogo lions are also known for their incredible fighting exploits. These lions can kill powerful creatures that are difficult for other lions to kill, including giraffes, hippos and South African buffalo.

Throughout their conquest of the western Sabi Sand Reserve, the lions have upended the balance of life in the region. The Mapogo alliance successfully attacked five different prides, sometimes wiping out entire prides. The alliance killed between 40 and 100 lions during its reign, easily clearing the challenger from its territory and posing a threat to its bloodline.

Mapogo lions kill, rule new lands and breed. They caused so much damage during their four-year reign that wildlife officials wondered if stepping in and breaking the alliance was the right thing to do.

Are the Mapogo Lions still around?

Like many other empires, the Mapogo Lions have fallen through infighting. Mr. T’s frequent feuds with Makhulu split the group, with the former and Kinky Tail moving into another part of their domain.

Kinky Tail was the first lion killed after the new alliance invaded the territory. Mr. T was forced to retreat, injured, and reunited with his brothers. During that time, he began hunting the cubs of other lions in an attempt to become the only breeding lion in parts of the territory.

In 2012, Mr T was killed by another pride of lions, outliving the life expectancy of wild lions by a wide margin. Scar and Rasta disappeared during this time, possibly taken by poachers. The last two surviving Mapogo lions are Makhulu and Pretty Boy.

Makhulu was last seen in 2013 when he was 16 years old and it is not known how he died. All Mapogo lions are now extinct, if not from the teeth of other lions, then of old age.